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rest. "That way if it breaks, I won't have wasted my time on the barrel." Other H&B turners do just the opposite, figuring that turning the barrel first reduces the blank's weight, minimizing whip and reducing the risk of breakage. Young set his sizing tool a bit larger than the model's knob diameter. The extra material is needed because the sizing tool's high angle of attack scrapes rather than cuts, leaving a rough, cratered surface. Young smoothed the knob to size with a Yz-in. gouge. He switched back to a larger gouge to slim the handle and lower barrel, lubricating the tool's travel along the rest with an occasional swipe of an oily rag. As he neared the finished size, Young checked his bat against the model by lining up his caliper with a position marker consisting of a steel rod that slides along another rod mounted behind the lathe and parallel to its centers. I could see the bat flex as the tool cut the narrowest part of the handle, but before it began to whip, Young hooked his callused left hand behind the spinning work to support it. Oddly, the turners here had never heard of bracing slender work with a steady rest. I doubt they would use one anyway. They have to hustle to make their daily quota of 32 bats, and a steady would just slow them down. Once Young had duplicated the model, he turned down both ends with a parting tool, gave the new bat a once-over with rough sandpaper and tossed it OntO a scale above his lathe. It weighed 32Yz oz. "I like to get 'em right on ... an ounce either way is okay for the major leagues," Young said. Final-sanding, finishing (lacquer) and the famous Slugger burned-in brand happen in another part of the plant. In the 10 minutes that had elapsed between centering the blank and weigh-in, Young hadn't stopped his lathe, neither to remove the completed bat nor to chuck a fresh blank. Watching Young work, I realized that turning a bat is easy compared to the arcane task of selecting the right timber. "Ballplayers are notoriously superstitious about their bats," Bradley, a one-time minor leaguer himself, tOld me. "Ruth liked to have pin knots up around the barrel, Pete Rose won't use anything but wide-growth ash. To us, timber is timber, but we try to give a player what he wants so he won't have any doubt in his mind when he steps up to the plate. " Some players even visit the plant to supervise the turning, having a little removed here and there until the balance is JUSt so. This infinite adjustability has, in part, kept wooden Slug- gers from being driven to extinction by aluminum bats, the weapon of choice in Little League and college baseball. Aluminum bats can't be tailored to each player, but the metal is arguably a better bat material than wood. For its weight, it's stronger than ash, and it never has wind shakes or worm holes. Weak hitters do better with aluminum because the metal bats have a larger "sweet SPOt," that area of the barrel which imparts the most power when it strikes the ball squarely. Tradition, however, is likely to have more to say about the survival of wooden bats in the majors than any volume of debate over how well they work or don't work. "It really comes down to pleasing the ballpark crowd," said Williams. "An aluminum bat JUSt can't match the sound that a wooden bat makes when it hits the ball." Hillerich and Bradsby of fers tours of its plant and base- ball museum. For more information, write the company at PO Box 35 700, Louisville, Ky. 40232. Paul Bertorelli an assistant editor at Fine Woodworking. 0 lS As he turns a new bat to near its final size, Young checks his work against the model with calipers. He aligns the measuring instrument via a position marker that slides along a steel rod 77ZOttnted behind the lathe and parallel to its centers. 6S Above, turner Freeman Young sets his sizing tool to the model bat's knob diameter. He'll size the knob on the new bat and then shape it with a small gouge. Four woodworkers at H&B hand-turn most of the bats swung by major league players. To make a bat turner duplicates one of the the artifact room, above. a partiCtllar player, the of Ctlrrent models filed in To keep the slender handle of a light bat from breaking, Young steadies the spinning work by hooking his left hand behind it. The thumb presses the gouge to the tool rest, ensuring a precise shearing cut that leaves a smooth surface.